Solving Environmental Problems through EFL for Secondary School Children of High-elementary and Pre-intermediate English Proficiency

Abstract

The purpose of the following project is to design and pilot a course about environmental issues and raise awareness about them among secondary school children and encourage their participation in environmentally friendly activities for developing a sense of strong responsibility as environmental citizens. The project also aims at developing children’s four English language skills – reading, listening, speaking and writing practiced around environmental topics. This project incorporates both the environmental content and English language teaching and is based on content and language integrated learning and content-based instruction. The project is piloted with twenty-seven secondary school children in Hatsik and Qarakert villages of Armenia, with two groups fifteen and twelve children in each. The piloting of the course lasted fifteen weeks forty-five hours in total. The piloting experience showed high level of motivation towards the course among the students. They were also enthusiastic about environmentally friendly activities. The level of their understanding and application of English language skills also improved around the environmental topics.

Keywords: English, EFL, environmental issues, environmental citizenship, CLIL, CBI, high elementary, pre-intermediate, secondary school